While
the 'free-to-play' market has taken a bit of a beating of late due to
gamers falling out of love with the use of in-app payments, the world of
mobile gaming is still an exciting one.
Whether you want games
that will last the length of a commute, or want to be lost in a port of
GTA where you spend hours mowing down pedestrians and making money out
of murder, there is a game on here for you.
This constantly
updated list is a mixture of free and paid for games, and also that one
in between - some in-app payments aren't really that bad. Honest! If by
the end you think we have missed something special off of the list, let
us know and we will see if it is worthy of inclusion further down the
line.
1. Dots (free)
Proving the notion that simpler is better on mobile, Dots
is stupidly, almost patronisingly simple, with players just drawing
lines between coloured dots. Link them up and, as coloured things tend
to do in games, they disappear, So more fall in. And it carries on like
this, getting more and more compulsive as you chase bigger and better
dot combos.
2. The Simpsons Tapped Out (free)
EA's game
based on the inhabitants of Springfield is surprising in a few ways.
It's free, which is quite the thing, plus, although what many would
deride as a 'freemium' game, it's more than possible to keep it going in
the background, pottering away, slowly unlocking all of its content for
free. Free-to-play done right, for once.
3. Angry Birds Space (free)
Developer Rovio has done quite a lot of aggressive whoring of the Angry Birds franchise, but this space-based fork
of the simplistic physics game series is really worth a try. For one,
it introduces some new play concepts, with the planet-based levels
requiring different tactics, plus the puzzles generally need a bit more
of a thoughtful approach than the chuck-it-and-see of the originals.
4. Badland (free)
Has a bit of an 'indie' vibe about it this one, with Badland
offering a weird, dark and gloomy world, in which you fly about in
control of a… blob thing. Your blob gets bigger and smaller, splits into
loads of mini clones, and generally baffles you about what might lie
around the next corner. We like a bit of a surprise, and this is full of
them.
5. Crazy Taxi City Rush (free)
Crazy Taxi City Rush
is another free game in which you need to put "free" in big quote
marks, as it's packed to bursting with subsequent in-app purchases to
unlock features, buy customisations and, in a particularly shameless
move, buy petrol for your taxi to continue playing after more than a
handful of failed runs. Still, endure the cash-grab and it's a pretty
game, one that uses a new, simple, swipe-based control system to allow
it all to work surprisingly well on a touchscreen.
6. Monument Valley (£2.49, $3.99, $AU4.90)
A very, very pretty game, this. Monument Valley
is based around the weird sort of impossible geometric shapes
popularised by artist M. C. Escher, with its colourful maps bending and
rotating in ways that appear to defy the laws of nature. You walk on
walls, flip them, turn them into floors, avoid crows and marvel at how
beautiful it all looks. A short game with only 10 multi-layered levels,
but a joyful ride.
8. Modern Combat 5: Blackout (£4.99, $6.99,
AU$8.99) We
get moaned at a lot for putting too many silly, quirky little games
about shapes and animals and organising letters of the alphabet in this
list. So here's one about men with guns shooting each other in 3D. Modern Combat 5
the latest in Gameloft's mobile homage to grown-up home console FPS
franchises, in which you gun about the place alone or in online
multiplayer matches. Nice to see Gameloft offering everything in a
one-off install here, rather than packing it with in-app purchases.
9. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (free)
If you're not already familiar with Blizzard's Hearthstone
then consider this a warning: it gets very, very addictive. A card game
from the makers of World of Warcraft, Hearthstone sees you building
decks from won or purchased cards to then battle against friends and
strangers. It's a surprisingly complex game that demands meticulous
strategy. You can play and enjoy without paying a penny, but there are
options to buy booster packs and add-on quests should you want to.
0. Whale Trail Frenzy (free)
No one dies of disease in Whale Trail.
It's a sweet flying sim, which sees you float about in the clouds
having a lovely time, collecting things, boosting and generally being
quite happy about it. The cheery vibe is broken a bit when adverts and
in-app purchase requests pop up, but it's happy enough before the money
men turn up.
